The morning began like any other Thursday, with Rigel waking up first as usual.
Jack wasn't sleeping in his 'house', instead, he was sleeping on top of Neville, with a packet of sweets scattered beside him, something Neville's grandmother had sent him the day before. The rascal had clearly stolen the sweets and slept right there.
Neville didn't notice anything, still fast asleep.
Rigel simply ignored the monkey's antics, instead, he waved his hand toward the boys, and a slight shock ran through their bodies, very mild, just enough to alert them.
Even so, everyone woke up startled.
Rigel had perfected this 'spell' precisely to make his task of waking them easier.
"Damn it, Rigel, I told you not to do that!" Seamus said, almost falling out of bed in shock.
Although it didn't hurt, it was still a hell of a fright.
Rigel simply rolled his eyes. Seamus was one of the hardest to wake up, second only to Ron, although Rigel had to admit he increased Ron's dose a little, certainly not because he was stingy, not at all.
Ron looked at Rigel angrily, but said nothing. He had complained before, and Rigel had simply said he wouldn't wake him up anymore. Ron, proud, pretended not to care, but the next day he was late because of it and eventually gave up the resistance.
Rigel ignored the boys' resentful stares and went to get ready.
The group left after they got ready, prepared for breakfast, they had spell classes in the morning.
Just as they were about to leave the Gryffindor tower, George and Fred jumped out of nowhere, grabbing Rigel by the shoulders and pulling him away.
Jack, perched on Rigel's shoulder, was already excited, knowing that something fun was coming.
"Good morning to you too, Jack." George and Fred said at the same time, hearing the monkey's grunts.
Rigel didn't mind much, the twins were unpredictable, but they wouldn't hurt him, so he just let himself be dragged along, waving to his friends over his shoulder.
After turning a corner, George spoke. "Rigel, we have a good plan for today!"
"Since it's Halloween, we should do something special!" Fred grinned as he pulled several colorful rolls of paint from his pockets.
Rigel recognized those things, they were fireworks.
"What are you going to do?" he asked curiously.
"It's not what we're going to do, it's what WE're going to do." George pointed at Rigel, clearly including him in the mix. Rigel rolled his eyes at them, but didn't seem to mind much, looking at them curiously.
"Tonight, after dinner, we're going to release these little beauties into the great hall." Fred smiled as he explained.
Rigel looked at them strangely. "Do you want to spend the next month in detention? McGonagall will be furious."
"That's why we need your help!" Fred said.
"Yes, we want you to have Jack release them secretly. We'll stay completely in McGonagall's sight. As long as she doesn't see us doing this, she can't give us detention!" George said proudly.
Jack was already waving excitedly, he would do this, he loved fireworks, they reminded him of when he used to fire cannons.
Fred continued. "Even if Jack gets caught, he's a monkey! McGonagall can't put him in detention!"
"Besides, people love monkeys, he'll be fine." George added.
Rigel stared at them blankly, so those bastards just wanted to find an accomplice.
"Did you think that, because I'm Jack's owner, I'd be the one getting detention?" Rigel pointed out the brutal flaw in their plan.
The twins didn't answer, they just smiled, they had clearly thought about it, but it was just detention. Even in the worst-case scenario, they would only owe Rigel one in the future. Jack is quite elusive, the chances of him getting caught are very low.
Rigel looked at the idiots, clearly wanting a scapegoat, turned around and walked away quickly.
"Forget it, I have something to do today." Rigel said. He wasn't going to dinner, he needed a plausible reason not to be there when the teachers sent them to bed. Even if he got caught, he could simply say he didn't know.
Jack tugged at Rigel's clothes, speaking quickly. "Master, come on, this looks fun, I won't get caught! I promise!"
Rigel knew Jack wouldn't stop bothering him, so he used his secret weapon. "I think Kreacher needs help at the shop..."
The monkey quickly fell silent, pretending not to have said anything.
Rigel scoffed, while the twins sighed. They hadn't managed to fool Rigel, so they started thinking about how to get another idiot to help them.
Perhaps they should ask Lee for help, he still owed them both a favor.
The twins didn't need words, they simply looked at each other and smiled, ready to run and find Lee.
Lee knew nothing about the two 'friends' who were plotting against him.
Rigel returned to the path to the great hall, and upon arriving, saw that the group was already eating. He sat down between Neville and Dean and began to fill his own plate.
Jack jumped onto the table, grabbed a piece of orange cake, shoved it into his mouth, and bit down with all his might to vent his frustrations.
"What did the twins want?" Dean asked curiously, the other boys also looking at him.
"What else? They wanted to cause chaos, unfortunately I don't have time for that today." Rigel shrugged.
The group continued chatting in a lighthearted manner. Rigel glanced briefly at Quirrell as he ate, curious, Quirrell seemed completely normal at the professors' table.
I mean, his 'normal' self, which is basically hunched over and looking around in fear, as if a vampire were about to jump out of nowhere and pounce on him.
Rigel looked away, he couldn't see if Quirrell had changed, but either way, he would probably still act today. Rigel hadn't made a significant change that would have led him to abandon this 'wonderful' plan.
Unfortunately for him, Quirrell still doesn't know how to get past Fluffy.
Besides, at that point the stone probably wasn't there yet, since Harry hadn't yet encountered the Mirror of Erised, so Dumbledore hadn't placed the stone there.
Breakfast was over soon, and the group of students began to head towards their classes. Rigel felt a tingling sensation on his scalp as he heard giggles behind him. Before, he would have dismissed it as nonsense, something that would make those little girls laugh for no reason.
Now he felt the eyes burning into his back.
He immediately quickened his pace, leaving the boys confused, but quickly struggling to keep up.
In the classroom, Rigel stood between Dean and Neville, clearly ready to prevent those girls from taking advantage of the situation and stealing the place, they had done it before, now he had to be on his guard.
In fact, he almost pushed Seamus to sit next to him, but he quickly remembered something and moved Seamus aside, who was somewhere between confused and annoyed, putting Dean in his place.
Why move him away? Because this was a class involving magic, and when magic was involved, the rule was never to sit next to Seamus.
Next to him, Dean and Harry, who were sitting beside him, clearly had the expression of someone who had just sucked on a lemon.
Seamus was somewhere between embarrassed and offended by their expressions. What fault was it of his that he blew things up?! He didn't blow them up on purpose!
In any case, Professor Flitwick arrived quickly, with his short, hurried steps, smiling all the while, he was usually in a good mood, and this day was clearly no exception.
"Good morning, little wizards, ready to learn some magic?" He asked as he stood on some books so everyone could see him.
The group was already used to the teacher's height, so nobody said anything about it, most responded with a resounding 'yes.' They were just children, so spell classes were usually one of the most fun, little theory and lots of practice.
"Very well, today we are going to learn the spell for levitating objects, repeat after me, Win-gar-di-um le-vi-o-sa!" He spoke slowly, clearly wanting them to hear every syllable clearly.
The students started repeating it after him, even Rigel, who already knew how to use that spell easily, imitated them, what else? He wasn't going to act rebellious just because it seemed childish, anyway, he's a child, there's no shame in that.
So, they began reciting along with Flitwick, Rigel glanced briefly at Ron and Hermione who were standing side by side, and soon the trigger for the Troll event would be ignited. The beginning of the 'golden trio'.